By Sylvia Westall and Humeyra Pamuk BEIRUT/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Kurdish militia fighting Islamic State in Syria accused Turkey on Saturday of targeting it at least four times in the past week, calling the attacks provocative and hostile. Turkey began a campaign of air strikes on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in northern Iraq and Islamic State fighters in Syria last Friday, in what Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has called a "synchronised fight against terror". The campaign has raised suspicions among Kurds that Ankara's real agenda is checking Kurdish territorial ambitions rather than fighting Islamic State. More »Kurdish militia in Syria accuses Turkey of 'provocative' attacks

A conservative Islamist rebel group in Syria, which has contested its hardline image in Western newspapers, mourned the death of the leader of the Taliban in a statement distributed online on Saturday. Ahrar al-Sham, which is widely described by analysts as an ultra orthodox Salafist group, expressed "deep condolence" in the Arabic statement for Mullah Omar, who Afghanistan said on Wednesday had died more than two years ago. The statement comes after Ahrar al-Sham wrote opinion pieces last month - one published by the Washington Post and another by Britain's Daily Telegraph - in which it presented itself as a Syrian national force, distancing itself from cross-border jihadist groups. More »Syrian Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham mourns Taliban leader

CAIRO (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry is in Cairo for security talks with Egyptian officials before heading to Qatar to try to ease Arab concerns about the Iran nuclear deal. More »Kerry in Cairo for Egypt security talks

Egyptian armed forces killed a leading member of the country's Islamic State affiliate in a shootout outside his North Sinai home, the army spokesman said in a statement on Saturday. Selim Suleiman al-Haram, identified in the statement as a leader of the militant group known as Sinai Province, was asked to turn himself in by a group of soldiers that surrounded his house in the town of Sheikh Zuweid, the army said. Egypt is battling an increasingly brazen insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula that has killed hundreds of police officers and soldiers since the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. More »Egypt says militant leader killed in shootout - army statement

Greece may seek 24 billion euros (16 billion British pounds) in a first tranche of bailout aid from international lenders in August to prop up its banks and repay debts falling due at the ECB, a pro-government Greek newspaper said in its early Sunday editions. Athens is now in talks with the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund to secure up to 86 billion euros ($94.48 billion) in bailout aid. The first tranche of 24.36 billion would be used to channel 10 billion euros as an initial recapitalisation to Greek banks, 7.16 billion euros to repay an emergency bridge loan, 3.2 billion euros towards Greek bonds held by the European Central Bank and other payments, Avgi said. More »Greece may seek up to 24 billion euros in first new aid tranche - paper

The Egyptian government extended by six months the deployment of "some elements of the armed forces" outside Egypt's borders to defend national and Arab security in the Gulf, Red Sea and the Strait of Mandeb, state news agency MENA said on Saturday. Egypt is part of a Saudi-led coalition that has been targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen. Egypt authorised a 40-day mandate on March 26, and extended it for three months in May 3 before extending it again on Saturday following the national defense council's approval. More »Egypt extends for six months military mandate in Gulf, Red Sea

Iran's parliament does not have authority over the nuclear agreement signed with world powers last month, the Islamic Republic's top nuclear negotiator was quoted as saying on Saturday. The comments from Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's atomic energy agency, are the latest volley in a lengthy battle between Iranian officials supportive of the deal, and hardliners who are sceptical of it. The conservative-dominated parliament in June passed a bill imposing strict conditions on any nuclear deal, such as barring international inspectors from Iran's military sites. More »Iran's parliament has no power over nuclear deal, top negotiator says